After their runs at the top, musical teen idols who continue their careers do so in two ways: They stay the same, doing forever what made them popular. Or they change and find a new personae.

Aaron Carter, who 10 years ago ruled the tween scene as the Little Price of Pop (as his mother Jane’s biography called him), sort of split the difference when he returned to the stage Friday at Allentown’s Crocodile Rock as part of a benefit for the social awareness group Four Years. Go.

Aaron Carter

At 23, Carter still traded in female-wooing flirting and flashy dance moves. But his music had far more of a pop R&B vibe to it than in the chirpy pop days when he sang “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It).”

The songs were more mature than, say, Justin Bieber – whose song ”Baby” Carter sampled on his second song of the night, “Looking for a Girlfriend” – but not as mature as, say, Usher. It puts Carter in the same group as Jesse McCartney(whose Dream Street band mate, Greg Raposo, was Carter’s supporting act; more about that later).

Taking the stage in a dark vest and suit pants, with a tie and blue shirt, with a goatee beard, Carter clearly was looking to update his image, as well. And his dance moves – pretty good, by the way, no doubt ratcheted up by his 2009 Top 5 finish on “Dancing with the Stars” – also were updated.

Starting with rudimentary moves on the opening song, “The Side of a Winner,” the dancing progressed to jumps, popping and no-hands cartwheels by the third song, “That Girl Tonight.”

His very actions still drew screams from the crowd, small at something above 200: When he opened his vest on the third song, “That Girl Tonight,” and when he took it off (plus his tie, which he threw to the crowd) for the next song, “My Lady” (“Y’all are making it hot up here,” he told the crowd.)

And when he wiped sweat (already by the second song) and threw the towels to the crowd. He even jumped into the pit area in front of the stage twice.

Oh, yeah, the songs: He did just six, all of them new and all urban R&B pop. Alone on stage without a band, Carter sang them to a pre-recorded track with heavy backing vocals – sometimes letting the backing suffice without vocals as he ran around and jumped.

“Looking for a Girlfriend” had an island lilt. And despite the effort to move on, “Looking for a Girlfriend” included the lyric “It was Hilary” – an obvious reference to fellow tween star Hilary Duff, whom he dated.

Perhaps the best song was the closing “Turn You Out,” on which he ran and jumped around like in the, um, old days.

“What’s really important to me is that this year I will be releasing an album,” he said (his last came out nine years ago). “I know it took some time, but I had to grow up. I got some life experience. … Look for my album this summer. I love you. ”

If there was any question whether they still love him, consider this: A good third of the crowd paid double -- $40 – for a brief meet-and-greet before the show, though Carter was generous with autographs, pictures, hugs and even kisses on cheeks.

If it was a disappointment that he sang none of his old songs, it was a bigger disappointment how brief his show was: A blink of 23 minutes, with no encore. The crowd seemed so stunned that they literally stood at the stage 10 minutes, seeming waiting for him to come back.

Raposo did a longer set of nine songs in 40 minutes.

He also jumped into the crowd (for his penultimate song, he even got the crowd to sit in a circle around him) and got them to wave their arms.

But he also going for an older image. He came out in a black vest with no shirt underneath and sang more mature fare, as well – rock versions of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” and Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling.”

But his best songs were his more poppy originals, “Kimmie, Kimmie” – which he said was being played for the first time anywhere – and “The Ditty.” Another new song, “Tell You More,” with him on piano, also was good.

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JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.